Rise of the Guardians: A Review

December 10th 2012 00:46

:One of the best Xmas films of all time

Remember back to those times when you were living the blissful life of a kid, when Christmas and Easter and life in general was of no stress what-so-ever. When you could have snow fights and giggle yourself stupid at the little things in life. Well this is what this film is all about and it is how it made me feel.

Rise of the Guardians is an epic adventure that tells the story of a group of heroes - each with extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.

These Guardians are the myths and joys of our childhood (some more than others). There is the big man himself, Santa, the next favourite, the dude with the eggs who is all fluffly, the Easter Bunny. Then there is the Tooth Fairy, Sandman and the initiate and the best of the them all.....................Jack Frost.

The film is about discovery of oneself and of the ever-successful-in-films good vs bad. It follows the journey of Jack Frost and how he came to be and how he can become more than the always-having-fun little brat game player he is. And he is helped by the almighty crew. And also forever tested and hurt along the way by the evil boogieman.

I never really knew about Sandman growing up but I knew of the others - to me Jack Frost was always just the ice on the grass on a cool morning. Santa has to be everyone's favorite followed by the guy who enables abundant chocolate eating but these would be every child's first heroes and as such this film is basically The Avengers of our childhood myths, fables and fantasies.

Now I may gush about this film a bit from now on but honestly, to me, this would have to be one of the best childhood Christmas films of all time, and it will definitely make my top 10 films of the year. I can find no fault with it and it had the most successful ingredient, that is often missing in many films these days, the ability to encapsulate and engage, I literally left the cinema in Erina and entered this fictional, but way more fun, Universe for 90mins. I laughed, I cried, I booed the bad guy and I cheered for the good guys.

The graphics of this animation are out of this world and I highly recommend a 3D viewing for the speed of the chases and the flying and the general addition of this element to the experience. The film is directed by Peter Ramsey and this is his first feature film but while he is light on directing the guy has been an animator and story board artist all the way back to the original Nightmare on Elm St and Predator films. He is a very visual director and he pleasurably assaults the senses with visual wonder while throwing in an amazing story that as far as I am concerned is as ancient as the original stories of St Nick. As honest and strong as the tales of the original characters this film is as good as The Avengers film was to say.... the Iron Man movies.

The voice acting cast is huge and you can tell they all had so much fun making the film. Captain Kirk's Chris Pine is Jack Frost and from his role as Kirk, Pine can be a bit mischievous in his characters, he was a perfect choice to voice Jack. Alec Baldwin plays the big guy, North, or as we all know him, Santa, he is a big burly jolly old fellow who teaches Jack to find his centre and who he really is. Baldwin was probably the stand out voice for me - unrecognizable and Santa pretty much represented the size of Baldwin these days . Sandman does not speak but the Easter Kangaroo (oops I mean Bunny) is overly Australian voiced by Hugh Jackman, For some reason I swore the Tooth Fairy was voiced by Natalie Portman but I was wrong (something that never happens hahaha) and it was actually Isla Fisher who was very cute in her character. And finally Jude Law was Pitch (Pitch Black) or as we know him, The Boogieman, and Jude was probably the only voice I was not overly fond of - I think someone more evil voiced like James Earl Jones, Patrick Stewart etc would have been better in this but none the less it was well played.

I think really young kids may get scared at points but this is a film for the entire family, one to take everyone including Granny too. It will make you laugh and cry and have a journey into what films are all about - beautifully made escapism with characters we love. I loved this film and happily give it 10 out of 10 pure white Jack Frost molars.